Weekend DUI arrests include speeders, weaving drivers

Sonoma County CHP officers last weekend arrested 17 people suspected of impaired driving and also spent time on Lakeville Highway where they cited 30 drivers for speeding and other driving violations, the CHP said Monday.

The Lakeville Highway enforcement stemmed in part from recent fatal crashes on the rural stretch of two-lane highway.

One driver in the southern Petaluma area was stopped for going 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. The driver had no identification, wouldn’t comply with officers, gave a false name and appeared to try and flee the traffic stop, CHP spokesman Officer Jon Sloat said in a release.

The driver turned out to be a 28-year-old Petaluma resident with three convictions for driving despite not having a license, Sloat said. The man was cited for another such case, and was arrested on suspicion of delaying officers and impersonating someone to avoid prosecution, which is a felony.

Another arrest included a Chevrolet driver who was stopped for having expired registration tags on his pickup. A check of the man’s driving record showed the 35-year-old Santa Rosa resident has had a suspended license since 2010.

He also was found to be under the influence of methamphetamine, Sloat said. Officers arrested him on suspected DUI, driving with a suspended license and child endangerment as he had his 5-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old child in the truck.

Saturday night a driver weaving across northbound Highway 101 lanes was arrested after he stopped his vehicle in the middle of a traffic lane near Steele Lane, Sloat said.

An officer, who’d seen the man weaving and been about to put on his lights and stop him, ordered him to the side of the highway and arrested the 52-year-old Vallejo man on suspicion of drunken driving. The driver was on probation for a July DUI conviction.